Behind The Scenes: Cyberpunk Ripperdoc (Patreon)

As you maybe probably noticed, I have a soft spot for cyberpunk and it appeared in my work more then few times. You can imagine how excited I was, when the Cyberpunk 2077 was released. Alas, it had it's bad launch and even if I totally got my money's worth of fun, it left the aftertaste of unfulfilled potential.

This year, the Edgerunners TV show arrived, along with the new game update and it shot the game into the sky. Almost feels like a proper launch after early access period. Furthermore, the show itself is so good, you don't even need to touch the game to enjoy the world of Cyberpunk.

Naturally, I was already geared up and got my chrome ready to create something from the show/game.

Visit the full Pinboard here

I wasn't sure what to do, so I searched a bit and came across an article, that lists all the Night City locations from the game, that appear in the show. The list was quite exhaustive, but ideal memory refresher to scrub through and make a list of potential locations.

I picked the ripperdoc clinic, because it really represents the mix of old scruffy place with the top-notch technology. But I saved the others too, so if you're looking for inspiration, places like Turbo, Lizzie's Bar, Megabuilding apartment or Afterlife are all great to depict.

The next step was to create a pinboard and fill it with enough material to help me put together recognizable and believable place. While doing this, I found a screenshot form the TV show, with David entering the clinic surrounded by a light coming through door and it looked so amazing, that I immediately saved it as atmosphere and lighting reference.

At this point, I don't know how I ever could even open up Blender without having some sketch prepared. Maybe it sounds limiting, but it's actually very liberating. And not only because of the creative reasons and ideation. Sometimes, it can be quite hard to get yourself to work on a new scene. Your whole body screams Playstation or Netflix.

Having a layout and basic composition prepared, is like having and IKEA box instead of bare planks and hammer. Yes, there is a work to be done, but you only need to make yourself sit down and start. You don't need to sit down and start thinking! 

Most of the time, I just make a note of the different objects on the board images, and pick three or four large shapes to play around with and place. Here, the seat, door area, tinkering table and running arm with light were the main objects that needed some layout attempts. And when I'm satisfied with the result, I move to refine the composition and add details to keep the shot interesting.

You can watch the process video on Youtube